Beauty and The Beast
by smudge1017
Summary: A dystopian retelling of Beauty and The Beast
1. Chapter 1

Images flash through my mind faster than flipping through a book. No it IS a book, the pages are worn at the edges and are yellowing with age.

I close my eyes and try to concentrate, but I can't, all I can do is flip the pages.

My fingers stop when I reach a large picture in the book, it's ME. Walking through an old town, a book in my nose. A man in midstep, frozen within the picture, walks towards me. He has a fierce look on his face and dresses in a red tunic and black cargo pants.

I start flipping again before I finish studying the picture, but I have no control, when we stop, we have landed on another picture, me again in a huge ballroom that I don't recognize. I am in a yellow dress and the man… Well he is not much of a man. He is covered in fur and dresses in an elegant lace blue coat that flies around while he dances. While the pictures aren't truly moving, I know what is happening, I feel it within me.

He holds me close and I do the same. Why do I not know him? How can one feel so close to someone that they have never touched? Why do I feel like I love him?


	2. The Community

I wake up safe in my bed, for now. In our _community_ , we don't dream. Our dreams are supposed to be vanquished by the pill we take every night, but it doesn't work on me. Every one in my community is limited to one interest, mine is reading. And no parent can have any more than two kids.

In our world there are many other communities, but ours is said to be the best, we call it C0.1. Every one is the same. C0.1 is the wealthiest community, but to be honest, I would rather live in poverty then be under our rulers' command.

In history, we learned about a time when there was a democracy and a time when there were books that were newly printed. A time when people could really express themselves.

But that was two hundred years ago. There world that they built for themselves ended after World War Four. There land fell apart.

The survivors gathered everything savable and started the Communities.

We haven't had a World War since. But that is because everyone is brainwashed. Nobody here has a mind of there own.

The Rulers prance around to the three Community schools and give speeches about how Beyonders are shamefully beyond their controlling technology and how they should be killed and blocked out and homeless. But they don't know I am a Beyonder and they won't figure it out either. They don't know how to catch me.

I plan to run.

I hop out of my bed and head downstairs. We have a two story, four bed, three bathroom house in the middle of a suburban city. My brother Kato sits at the kitchen table this morning, shoveling cereal into his mouth.

"Belle, you're late" he gurgles, with his mouth full

" And you are gross"

" Right back at ya"

As a ten year old boy, he is beginning to have some sass and my 14 year old brain has zero tolerance for it.

I walk over to the cabinet and grab out a purple ceramic bowl with a chip in the rim.

It has been my favorite bowl for as long as I can remember and I eat everything from soup to sandwiches in it.

I take the cereal from the counter and fill the bowl halfway. Then I add milk and a spoon.

I take it back over to the polished kitchen table sit down across from my messy eater of a brother.

"So are you excited to choose your interest today?" I mockingly ask my brother

Not taking the whole sarcastic hint he answers the way he has been trained to: " Totally, I hope I get mechanics or electronics"

"Dude seriously, don't be Excited about it. It is horrible the way you are randomly assigned something that _you_ should be interested in, it is not right and not fair"

Kato blinks at me, like he didn't hear a word I said, he is just as brainwashed as the rest of them.

I leave my cereal and head back up to my room.

Because today is the fourth year's choosing day, the rest of us get the day off to prepare for the choosing banquet at noon.

The banquet is an over exaggerated party where kids are called up to "choose" their interest, even though they have zero say in what they get. The chooser's family gets to come to the banquet if they have already been to a banquet of their own. So I get to go to _ANOTHER_ banquet.

Meanwhile in a dark room in another community there is the last rose bush in existence. Wasting away with neglect. A beast roar echoes far off in the castle, leaving everything within a mile frightened for their lives.


	3. The Preparation

I stand in my bedroom getting ready for the banquet, another thing people are brainwashed into loving.

It is mandatory for me to look nice or people will suspect I'm not the person I say that I am.

I pull the satin green dress over my hips and zip it up, then I add a string of pearls to the ensemble. My hair is done in a tight bun of curls and I do a neat, but fast make up job.

I go over to my vanity and spray a spritz of VERY strong floral perfume and throw a ridiculous amount of glitter in my hair and on my face. As much as I hate it, I need to fit in.

I go out into the hallway and see Kato sitting in front of his door, shivering.

"Are you ok" I say kneeling down next to him

"What if I get a bad interest, what if I hate what I need to do. What did YOU do on your Interest Ball night. Were you scared?" He sobs out in one surprisingly long breath

"Kato, it doesn't matter at all. Who cares if you get an interest that you don't like. You can still do what YOU like here at home. This stupid banquet doesn't matter. You will be fine and you will do great" I put myself out there, even though I know that he is brainwashed, but his answer surprises me

"You know, you're right. I can still do what I want whenever I want!"

"That's the spirit kid!" I say as encouragingly as I can, yet he isn't supposed to believe me

Kato stand up and starts to open his door, but then he turns around and whispers "Do you have dreams too. I have them every night. I know the pill is supposed to make the dreams go away, but it doesn't help."

I beam at him "Kato I am so glad you have them too, I thought I was alone. We are Beyonders Kato, let it be known to yourself but no other. You have been doing a great job to fit in. I am just so glad."

He grabs me and hugs me tight and whispers "I wonder if Mom or Dad are Beyonders too?"

"I don't know Kato, we might never know. But I caution you, don't ask and don't tell them what you really are. Tonight we will go to the banquet and we will act normal. Okay"

"Ok!"

"Now go dry your eyes and get ready to have a great time at your first and last banquet. It will be both of our last so we better enjoy it.

He scampers through his door, a spring in his step. I am so excited to have someone to share my Community distaste with. I go back into my room almost excited to go to the Banquet this year.


	4. The Dazed and The Afraid

My dress squeezes my upper chest, but I must endure. The pain makes it hard to breath, and I can't tell if it is from my outfit or my fear. A banquet such as this makes it hard to hide from the officials, but I know I don't have much of a choice.

The ballroom is illuminated by candles that are positioned around the ceiling. While it is beautiful, it is not practical, as they could drip wax on top of any unsuspecting persons. Hundreds of tables encircle the dance floor and stage, each one draped with an elegant red table cloth, and once again candles, this time they have a golden sheen to them. The structure of the building is the most spectacular of all. Giant stained glass windows, ten times the size of me surround us. The colors swirls mesmerizingly, I stare at it as though I am in a trance.

Windows such as this are hard to find in our modern day, as they were all destroyed after World War Five when the government rebuilt our cities to create our communities.

People, men, women, boys, and girls, flutter around me like wild animals, all eager to get the festivities started, except for one.

He stands in the back, away from all. He wears a mask and has a slender build, even through his mask I can tell he is handsome. I looked away from the boy to the crowd before approaching. I needed to be sure that nobody was looking in my direction. Once I had deemed it safe I glanced back over to him, and caught his eye. He grinned. Flustered, I turned myself to look at Kato, he was running around with his friends, who were also here for their banquet. But by the time I looked back at the mysterious boy, he had gone.

My heart beats in my chest. Where had he gone? Who was he? Did anyone else see him?

My eyes darted around the room, he was nowhere in sight. I needed to sit down. The pain in my chest from my beating heart and my constricting dress was unbearable. I needed to get away. As I stood up to run, I experienced a wave of nausea. What was happening to me?

My eyes darted to the back exit. I needed to get out. My vision started to blur as I ran.

The candles,

The red, oh so much red.

I pushed through the exit and unzipped my dress, leaving only my form fitting and revealing slip. I dropped the sea foam green horror onto the ground and surveyed my surroundings.

I was in a petite little garden that looked as though it hadn't been tended to in fifty years. An ivy covered fence was leaned against the wall. The closer I looked the more I noticed. One particular patch of ivy caught my attention. I stood up and walked towards it, not understanding my sudden fascination with it. That's when I saw it; a large pair of green eyes staring at me. The boy from the banquet room. My attention immediately floated down to my slip, I was barely clothed! My eyes darted to the dress lying on the ground where I dropped it.

"No," he whispered, "you're fine, I won't look." While I was flattered by his consideration, I still slipped on the dress. It was seemingly less tight than before.

The boy emerged from the shadows, he was beautiful, and somewhat familiar.

"Who are you?" I whispered, wonderstruck.

"You tell me Belle."


End file.
